As it turns out, that's exactly what I did (before checking back here) and lo
and behold, it worked. Actually, pulling the data cable and the power cable,
and then putting first power and then data back in allowed Windows to
recognise "new" hardware having been attached. Opened up properties, all
features were working again and I have full resolution.

Cheers,

"Wandering" wrote:
[color=blue]
> I know it sounds dumb, but did you try unplugging the monitor during a shut
> down and then connecting it after the machine has booted again. It should be
> plug and play. By the way unplugging the power to it for a few minutes
> before booting can sometimes help. Finally, the power switch on some is also
> a circuit breaker, and simply cycling it may work. Or there may be a reset
> button on it.
>
> Good luck.
>
>
> "BlueMage" <BlueMage@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:0B6F32E0-D7AC-4731-92B3-13DAC175DD52@microsoft.com...[color=green]
> > Last night, I shut my system down as i do - everything working fine. This
> > morning, i boot up, and one of my monitors doesn't work. Now, if this
> > were
> > the secondary monitor, it wouldn't be an issue - but it's my primary. I'm
> > running an Acer AL2216W and a Samsung Syncmaster off of an nVidia 8800GTX
> > running on latest drivers. I cannot get Windows to accept that there is a
> > usable second display, much less actually activate it. Several System
> > Restores did nothing to improve this situation. Finally, I reinstalled
> > Vista
> > (which saw the primary monitor work) but as soon as I got the latest
> > nVidia
> > drivers, I ran into the same problem. Frustratingly, Windows doesn't even
> > recognise the Acer as an Acer - it simply calls it "Digital Display"
> >
> > Interestingly, boot up and windows loading appears on the primary monitor.
> > But it disables when windows loads.
> >
> > Any assistance that could be provided here would be greatly appreciated.[/color]
>
>[/color]